Elements of a campaign finance reform
package offered by congressional leaders passed in the House of
Representatives on March 30 under "suspended" rules.
The full package and a provision allowing labor union members
to decide whether their dues could be spent on politics, however,
failed to get the necessary votes.

Legislation was considered under a special rule limiting debate
(in this case, to 40 minutes per bill) and requiring a two-thirds
majority for passage.

Congressman Bill Thomas (R-CA) sponsored the reform package (H.R.
3581). H.R. 3581 sought to ban unregulated
"soft money" donations to national political parties,
strengthen disclosure rules for political contributions, ban foreign
contributions to federal races, encourage the verification of
voter citizenship, increase campaign contribution limits, and
give union members the ability to stop their dues from being spent
on politics. It failed by a vote of 337-74.

Two elements of the Thomas bill that were offered separately did
pass on their own. A ban on foreign donations to federal campaigns
(H.R.
34) passed by a vote of 369-43, and a measure to institute a faster means for
disclosing campaign contributions (H.R.
3582) passed by 405-6. But another provision to allow workers who
pay mandatory union dues to decide whether or not their money
can be spent on politics (H.R.
2608) failed by a vote of 166-246.

Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) had agreed to bring up campaign finance
reform by the end of March. He later hoped to put it off until
after the April recess. He rescheduled the vote for March 30,
according to spokeswoman Christina Martin, after "It was
decided by the entire elected leadership that there are a far
larger number of members who wanted to proceed expeditiously."

Advocates of further campaign finance regulation were displeased
with the leadership's choice of legislation and its quick consideration
despite the fact that many of them pressured Gingrich to honor
his end-of-March pledge. Two in particular were Congressmen Christopher
Shays (R-CT) and Martin Meehan (D-MA) -- the chief sponsors of
the House companion bill of the Senate's failed McCain-Feingold
bill. The Shays-Meehan bill (H.R.
3526) seeks to ban "soft money,"
restrict certain types of political advertising and impose stricter
disclosure rules. Workers who pay labor union dues but are not
members of a union are allowed a choice in how their dues are
spent on politics, but full members are not given similar protection.

Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) alluded to the possibility that
the campaign finance issue may come up again for further debate
during the 105th Congress, but said, "certainly we feel that
we have identified... the key crucial issues that are of concern
to the American people."

In an effort to override the House leadership, proponents of the
Shays-Meehan bill are circulating a "discharge petition"
to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. While the petition
needs the signatures of 218 House members, only 190 members have
signed so far (to read an article from the Washington Post on
the petition drive, click here). The campaign watchdog organization Common
Cause is planning to use the April congressional
recess to lobby congressmen to sign the petition.